Clive Crook: an idea that should be pursued with urgency

Clive Crook of Bloomberg View applauds Ann Rutledge and Robert Litan’s Brookings study, “A Real Fix for Credit Ratings”:

“The [rating agencies’] failure to do their appointed jobs was as spectacular as that of the banks, and at the very center of the whole mess—yet the regulatory follow-through has been minimal. The vital function that the companies failed to discharge should be rethought.

“Robert Litan of the Brookings Institution (until recently, Litan was with Bloomberg Government) and Ann Rutledge of R&R Consulting (a firm of highly respected credit analysts) have just published a study for Brookings that says how this could be done. It’s one of the best things I’ve read on the unfinished post-crisis agenda.”

Full Bloomberg View article: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-07-13/how-to-fix-the-credit-rating-system

Rutledge-Litan study for Brookings: http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2014/07/real-fix-for-credit-ratings-litan